Challenge for the end of this and next week

Okay. So... I imploded a little bit. Classes started, the schedule went out the window, free time became a charmed memory and describing the state of my apartment as "in disarray" would be a generous understatement. But you know what? THE PROPS MUST GO ON. So with tears in my eyes and a new schedule that makes micromanagement look like laissez-faire governing I say let us proceed with the task set before us!

For the end of this week and all of next week the challenge is:

Things found inside the homes of the working class!

"Blue collar."
"Peasants."
"Rustics."
"Rubes."
"Little folk."

"Plebs."

The lower class are to be found everywhere, from great works of literature:

Please, sir.

to theater classics:

Tomorrow?

 

to fine cinema:

A DUCK!

to hit MMOs:

How serene.

And they have all sorts of crap lying around. The challenge this/ next week is to think about a working/ lower class dwelling from a time period of your choosing and develop 5 assets that you would find inside or around the house. Some things to consider:

What is the time period?
Who lives in the dwelling?
What do they do?
Where is the dwelling located (hot climate, cold climate?)

Things like this will help decide what sort of stuff you might find inside the house. For instance, you are Gretchen the cute and quirky hay farmer your house might have this sort of look:

hay bales, cart, containers for storage, axe for fire wood etc.

But if you're ZALZIBAR the dwarven SLAYER OF BOARS, the inside of your house might look like this:

Note the mounted board head, lamp, flour sacks, potions (?) and tools

So, picture your peasant and their house, then draw 5 things that tell us about them and that place. The assets we find or see in a space set the tone for that space so be conscientious!

Hiatus Week

Gaaaaah. It's Thursday and I have not had a chance to consider this topic. The topic is open this week, I may not have a chance to get any props done until I can equalize my schedule. So, a new topic will be available this coming Monday. I think I already know what it'll be, I just need to figure out some serious time management.

Weapons at last!

You can understand so much about me just by looking at this set of guns:

1) I've been watching "Romance of the Three Kingdoms." My favorite character is possibly Guan Yu.
2) I have little experience with sci-fi gaming/movies.
3) I enjoy the look of antique guns and long walks on the beach.

In the context of gaming, when guns are mentioned, I immediately think of the Broken Butterfly from Resident Evil 4. The creators worked very hard on the game's weapons and their sound effects. It was as if I could feel the weight of the cold steel magnum and that reload action! I. Loved. That. Gun.

Week 4 Guns

Hooo boy. I am tired from this challenge. Doing guns was a project I've been wanting to do for a number of reasons, so I really wanted to go all out and do my best on this one.

I looked at models of actual guns first, then referenced concept art from Mass Effect, Halo and District 9. It makes me feel bad to reference other concept art, everything I've heard sort of frowns on doing that, but I'm not very familiar with gun design so it seemed like I good way to help me with the approach.

I talked a little about this on my blog, so here are my thoughts on the subject from there:

I wanted to design something futuristic and cool. When I think about guns, I think about them from the standpoint of a player of video games. When I pick up a gun in a game I want it to have that awesome factor. If you use a gun in a game you're usually unleashing some serious righteous (or sometimes senseless) fury down on someone, and the gun should reflect that whether it is a pistol or a shoulder-mounted nuke launcher. Guns should have some menace to them, they're tools for killing. The setting in my mind was future, but nearish future. I figured the sort of person who might use these guns could be military or possibly a freelance professional.

Here are the roughs of the guns that I started with, done in blue pencil:

It's hard for me to retain the feel of clean lines when I scan things in...

While I did use lots of different images as references, I worked hard to make the silhouettes and shapes unique. It was not my intention to copy anyone, I hope that it doesn't look too much like the work of others.

I really wanted to make the images look crisp and refined like the gun concept art I see from professionals, but it was my first time trying it and I obviously have a lot to learn. Here is how it ended up coming out:

Color, texture.

...It doesn't look terrible, but it doesn't look very polished, either. If anything I think I gave the guns too much wear. Also I would like to add numbers and branding to them, but I haven't gotten there yet. Maybe I will come back to it tomorrow.

Chairs, 乾杯！

Yes, it's a clear, inflatable pillow!

Now that the hard part of this other project is over and my nightmares of tables spanning across pages have subsided, I can post some chairs! The designer in me would cry if I missed this week. How could I face the Eameses or Le Corbusier?

I immediately thought of those Mini Designer Chair Collection toys from Japan. So cool!

Week 4: Guns!

Let's not shoot around the bush, shall we?

That's right, it's the gun week.

You don't have to live in a red state to think guns are awesome. If there's one thing humanity excels at it's developing unique and increasingly creative methods for killing eachother. Few methods are more bad-ass than the gun. Unless I suppose it's a bigger gun.

He's ready for violence.

The thing that makes guns bad ass to me is the fact that there's no messing around. Generally speaking a gun wielding protagonist hasn't spent a decade learning the "art" of the gun. A gun is a tool that propels a ball of lead into your living target; it's the most primitive, direct, and in most cases expeditious way to end lives en-masse.

Guns. Lots of guns.

So, when I think about guns as props I think that those ideas need to be reflected in the design. Of course I like to think of it from a game-play standpoint because I'm a game nerd, so when I think about a weapon I think of how I'd feel using it in a game and how it would make me feel. The exciting thing about designing your own unique guns is that you can be as over the top as you want. Look at these concepts from Bayonetta:

Holy gun design, Batman!

The protagonist of Bayonetta looks like this:

Bow chicka wow wow

Bayonetta is a strong, over the top female protagonist and you can SEE that in these guns. Despite looking girly, these guns also look awesome. They look like the sort of gun you'd be dispensing some righteous justice from. Stylishly.

On the flipside if your protagonist is this guy:

*manly grunt*

You'd feel really silly using the pink guns. I mean unless it was a comedy. Actually, that is sort of hilarious visual. I wonder if someone could make a mod for that. Anyway, this is the main character in Gears of War. He kills aliens, pounds his chest, hangs with his marine bros and probably drinks something god-awful like MGD.

The iconic Gears "Lancer" looks like this:

Chainsaw bitches!

Jigga-wha~t?! That's right, it's a chainsaw gun. That is motherf*cking chainsaw on a motherf*cking assault rifle. Would it work in real life? I can't imagine your foe would be patient enough to let you saw his limb off. And why would you when you could just... shoot him? But that isn't the point. Because when your player character is using this weapon and chainsawing patient aliens in half YOU FEEL LIKE A GOD. A god of wretched death and dismemberment.

I guess my point to all of this is think about who is using the gun and what it's purpose is. Think about how you define a gun. Then put those ideas into your final design.

Anyway, that is my gun spiel. I don't know what my plan is for this yet, but I hope it's fun!

Week 3: chairs

Here are my chairs! Inking with pen, not Photoshop this week. I've been shopping for a new chair on a budget, I finally settled on something financially responsible but probably not ergonomically responsible. Despite my compromise, I got thinking of what chair I might buy, if I had the money, and I came up with this:

Obviously this position wouldn't be most conducive for work

Then that got me in the mindset of comfy overstuffed chairs, so I did this:

The angle's not quite right.

In my character design class the maquette instructor Drew came in once and said that seldom do living creatures have concave curves, but rather a series of convex curves that form the appearance of a concave shape. That really resonated with me and I've found I like to apply the same principles to non-living objects to give them a sense of warmth/ comfort.

I also decided to try my hand at a 1950's diner stool:

Elipses were driving me crazy this evening!

A side project I've been working on has a sci-fi bent, so with that on the brain I decided to try out a couple of sci-fi sort of cockpit seats as well:

The stirrups remind me of a gynecologist. Maybe not the best element in retrospect?

I like this one a bit better.

Week 3: Chairs

A little late updating the new theme this week. This week the theme is going to be:

CHAIRS.

I'm eager to get into weapons and cool stuff, but I want to give myself another week to sort of get a feel for design props so when I do guns they will be cool looking. Well, I suppose there might be a middle ground...

Huh. Everyone has a hobby I guess.

... Maybe not.

Now, chairs might seem like a dull topic, but there are so many kinds! Squichy easy chairs, salon chairs, bar stools, car seats, cockpit seats, thrones, old fashioned chairs, modern chairs... you name it. So I really think that this is going to be a fun challenge.

For inspiration here are some neat chairs I found:

Modern stools.

The prettiest princess!

Grandma's chair?

I don't even...

It's like an egg!

Maybe if I look at it sideways...?

Hoity-toity stool.

So, I hope it's fun. I think it will be! There are a lot of types so there should be some interesting stuff to draw!

Week 2: tools

Been crazy busy trying to resolve some issues I have with the male figure (unrelated to my love life) this week, so I didn't have time to clean these scans in photoshop before uploading. But! Tools!

Power drill! Get your drill on!

Adze! It's a real tool I swear!

Crow bar! Eat your heart out, Gordon Freeman!

Chainsaw! We don't need no stinkin' boomsticks.

Blow torch! Because fire makes everything better.

I'd like to take some time and clean this up at some point.

Can you name these tools and what they're used for?

I don't draw tools often, so I can't make them up or machinery or robots to save my life. Instead of copying reference images, this week's exercise was basically me practicing drawing the object from a different view (and failing).

I love inking, so this did force me to break out the old crusty Rapidographs. Sadly, my most used ones have gone to Pen Heaven. Rapidographs are a bit of a hassle as they require cleaning and recently I'm short on regular ink pens. To the other artists, I ask, what brands have you used and recommend?

Week 2: Tools

A new week, a new topic. This week let's try...

TOOLS.

So, this is a pretty wide area. Let's define it a bit.
What exactly are tools? For the parameters of this week, what are we counting as "tools"? Let's ask the Oxford dictionary on my laptop!

tool |toōl|
noun
1 a device or implement, esp. one held in the hand, used to carry out a particular function : gardening tools.
• a thing used in an occupation or pursuit : computers are an essential tool | the ability to write clearly is a tool of the trade.
• a person used or exploited by another : the beautiful Estella is Miss Havisham's tool.
• Computing a piece of software that carries out a particular function, typically creating or modifying another program.
2 a distinct design in the tooling of a book.
• a small stamp or roller used to make such a design.
3 vulgar slang a man's penis.
• informal a dull, slow-witted, or socially inept person.

I think for simplicity's sake we can rule out definition 2. And for sanity's sake I'm ruling out definition 3. So that leaves the first definition, and specifically I think "a thing used in an occupation or pursuit" is appropriate.

Simply put, tools are something that enables you to perform a function. This is anything, from a wrench to a chainsaw to a... shotgun?

THIS... IS MY BOOMSTICK.

Ok, well maybe let's leave the guns for another week shall we? I'd suggest manual and power tools, but as ever it is up to you. Remember that tools exist in all time periods, so if you are feeling something medieval or futuristic it's all on the table.

IKUZE Toys!

I'm excited to begin this project with everyone and hope I can keep up!

I have not played with toys in so long and don't have any lying around at present. I was going to just post some sketches or inked work ("polished" props you say? haha), but running with the light and fun theme took a natural course into postcards.

When I was a kid, a family friend's baby owned one of these. Though I was too old to really play with it, I did like pushing the beads along their individual loopy courses. I think I was drawn to the colors and shapes.





Who didn't love Legos growing up? I think I owned the pirate set! It even came with a little red parrot.

My officemate and I would hide this toy soldier for the other to find. I'd open a drawer to grab a pen and there he'd be. Once he was camouflaged in my bamboo plant. Oh the ways we entertained ourselves.

Week 1: Progress

Things I learned this week: It takes longer than you think to draw props.

Good Molly: It's Sunday. You need to get cracking on your props. I know you've had a busy week but you can't fail your own self-project on week one. That is just sad.


Bad Molly: Psh. How hard can 5 props be? I'll do them in my sleep. I draw people all the time, they must be WAY more complicated.


~3 hours later~


Bad Molly: What the hell? Why are props so complicated!?


Good Molly: I told you this would happen. Now you're tired and out of time and you rushed through it. I hope you've learned your lesson.


Bad Molly: *grumble*

Here are my week one attempts for the toys project.

Rocking horse! Horse legs? Tough to draw!

Rubber duck!

Jack-In-The-Box: closed edition.

Simple toy car.

Doll house: eat your heart out, Joss Whedon.

I'd like to color these and do an open version of the jack-in-the-box, but we'll have to wait and see. There are more prop topics to explore! And hopefully future, wiser Molly won't leave it until the last minute. Eheh.

Oh, another thing I focused on when making my props was to really try to make them toy-like. Which seems self explanatory, but I think it's easy for a doll house or a toy car to look like a real house or real car. I approached that challenge by giving my doll house a base and emphasizing the design on the car, pushing it towards fun and less towards realism. I tried to stay conscious of this in all of my toys.